RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. Bone marrow transplantation can replace immune cells that were destroyed by chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to study the effectiveness of chemotherapy compared with or without bone marrow transplantation in treating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00002700